Historical Timeline

1787	The Northwest Ordinance outlaws slavery in the Northwest Territories which later developed into Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
1803	Ohio is admitted to the union as a free state.
1831	Lane theological seminary in Cincinnati expels antislavery students, including Theodore Weld, many of whom become agents for the American Anti-Slavery Society.
1855	John Mercer Langston, a former slave, is elected clerk of Brownhelm Township in Ohio.  He is the first black to win an elective political office in the United States.